TEAM PHOENIX PLANNING SECOND ANNUAL FUNDRAISER FOR PTSD DOGS — THE NEWS-HERALD — isorder dog for a soldier.

A year later the group is hoping to do the same thing again for another veteran. The Trenton American Legion Post 426, 2423 W. Jefferson, is hosting the fundraiser this year.

This year’s recipient will be Jeff Wahl, a Navy combat veteran suffering from many ailments including PTSD, a traumatic brain injury, cognitive disorder, and several physical injuries.

Wahl, a 17 year veteran served seven tours in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan as well as time in Cuba.

The fundraiser will be held Aug. 6 from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. A suggested donation of $15 per person gets the attendee a barbeque chicken dinner, corn, potatoes, baked beans, salad, bread and dessert.

Entertainment for the night will be provided by DJ Skip. Other fundraisers will include auctions, raffles and a 50/50 drawing.

CEMETERY FOR AMERICAN INDIAN VETERANS DEDICATED NEAR AUBERRY — FRESNO BEE — AUBERRY | A new central San Joaquin Valley cemetery was dedicated Tuesday among the sounds of Native American chants.

More than 100 people attended the dedication of the Big Sandy Rancheria Band of Western Mono Indians Veterans Memorial Cemetery on its tribal grounds. The cemetery was built with a $200,000 grant from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

“The site here that they’ve chosen and everything that they’ve got is beautiful,” said Rene Diaz, president of the American Indians Veterans Association of Central California, taking in Tuesday’s ceremony in the lush Fresno County foothills. “It’s very indicative of service and the individuals that participate in it.”

Big Sandy Rancheria’s cemetery is the second cemetery for Native American veterans. The first belongs to the Yurok Tribe in far Northern California. It opened in 2014.

BLACK VETS, OTHERS HOST WATERLOO-CEDAR RAPIDS RIDE FOR RETRIEVING FREEDOM — THE COURIER — WATERLOO — Blood runs red in any person, regardless of skin color. Those who have served in time of war know that. And all who served need many of the same services when they get back home.

That’s why a group of African-American veterans are trying to raise a tide to float all boats of all colors — on a two-wheeled wave of chrome, leather and steel.

The Inner City Motorcycle Club, Sister Soldier Network, supported by numerous veterans organizations throughout the Cedar Valley and eastern Iowa, are sponsoring a Veteran Service Dog Motorcycle Run from Waterloo to Cedar Rapids on Saturday.

The ride, will follow U.S. Highways 218 and 30 from Inner City club headquarters at 1607 Sycamore St. to May’s Island in downtown Cedar Rapids, with a return trip on Interstate 380.

The ride is open to all veterans and riders of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is designed to raise awareness of minority veterans and to raise funds and raise awareness for Retrieving Freedom of Waverly, which trains and place service dogs with veterans and autistic children.

VIETNAM VETERAN CREATES TRIBUTE TO FALLEN MARINES — AP — WOODSTOCK, Ill. — Ted Biever couldn’t get the seven men who died while fighting in Vietnam off his mind.

So he decided to put them on his SUV.

Biever, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Lake in the Hills resident, had a decal depicting a section of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall adhered to his vehicle in tribute. The decal highlights the names of the seven men from Biever’s unit who died on Sept. 26, 1968.

“I feel it’s an honor to them – to them and all the men and women that served and got killed in Vietnam,” Biever said. “There are other names on there, different branches of the service – people I didn’t know.”

The men were part of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines. Biever, a corporal at the time, said the unit was struck by six short rounds, which wounded him and killed seven from his unit. The deceased, whose names stand out on Biever’s vehicle, were Lance Cpl. Larry Lower, Cpl. Andrew Bukovinsky, Lance Cpl. Jerry Ratliff, Lance Cpl. Randall Olson, Pfc. John Ruscito, Lance Cpl. John Stahl and 1st Lt. Douglas Paige.

DVA LOANS OFFERS BUSINESS START UP CAPITAL TO OUR VETERANS — DIGITAL JOURNAL — owned subsidiary of FIFTH GROUP FINANCIAL Inc. launched a program that offers start up business capital for U.S. veterans. The money is coming from the private sectors offering tax breaks, and monthly interest rates for its investors.

Frank Jacoby (GM) of dvaloans.com developed the program after he observed “predatory lenders” convincing our veteran’s to sell their “future disability payments” at forty cents on a dollar. Don’t sell your benefits says Jacoby, it’s like asking the “fox to guard the chicken coop”. Jacoby named the company “Fifth Group Financial” after the Fifth Special Forces Group in honor of the men he served with in Vietnam to include the late Sgt. John Walton in 1968, son of Sam Walton who founded the Wal-Mart organization.

BERKLEY, MICHIGAN STUDENTS RAISE $3,000 FOR AMPUTEE VETERAN’S NEW HOME — FOX DETROIT — BERKLEY, Mich. (WJBK) – A U.S. veteran and triple amputee was awarded a new home for him and his family thanks in part to the hard work of some local elementary and middle school students. The new house is going to Army Staff Sgt. Ben Eberle. He lost his limbs after an explosive device went off in Afghanistan in 2011.

Students at Anderson Middle School and Pattengill Elementary raised about $3,000 working with national organization Tunnel to Towers, to go towards Building for America’s Bravest.

“We expected to raise a couple hundred dollars maybe, but as we kept raising more money, we realized a lot of people care about this,” said Lillith Fleischaver, a Pattengill Elementary student.

“We really realized what a difference a small group of kids can make,” said Amaya Aten, Anderson Middle School. “And we really wanted to push our project further and reach limits.”

The money raised went toward smart technology in an all-new home. The big unveiling was the moment the students had been waiting for — a chance to watch their hard work on the new place all come to fruition. You can watch the big unveiling in FOX 2’s Erika Erickson’s report in the video player above.

“I think that’s the least we can do for the servicemen who have gone to battle for our country and suffered catastrophic losses,” said Principal Michael Ross.

FORGOTTEN VETERANS, YEARS AFTER THEIR DEATHS, RECEIVE PROPER HONORS — TIME WARNER CABLE NEWS — MENANDS, N.Y. — The mission Kelly Grimaldi embarked on when she took over as historian for the Albany Diocesan Cemeteries was inspired by a familiar phrase.

“After 9/11, we have a slogan: ‘Never Forget,’ ” said Bob Van Pelt, retired from the U.S. Army.

It started when Grimaldi and the cemeteries received an email from Ireland, from a man looking for his uncle.

The deceased veteran wasn’t hard to track down; he was buried in a veterans’ cemetery. But to Grimaldi’s dismay, the man wasn’t marked as a service member. In fact, she found 27 service members who were not being honored for their service.

“I suspect they didn’t have any next of kin looking after their affairs,” said Grimaldi. “Many of them were immigrants.”

But looking at Tuesday’s ceremony, you wouldn’t guess these men, dating back to the Spanish American War, have no family. With full military honors, the 27 men who served our country were finally given the burials and headstones they deserved.

“St. Agnes is doing a great thing, and Kelly is just wonderful for what she did,” said Van Pelt.

“I feel as though I am their next of kin,” said Grimaldi. “These are my men, and I feel so great full that we were able to memorize all of them.”

HOUSE SUPPORTS KEY TO ENDING BAN ON IN VITRO FERTILIZATION FOR VETERANS — STARS & STRIPES — WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and advocates of in vitro fertilization were focused this week on the House, where lawmakers will likely make or break an effort to end on a 24-year ban on providing the procedure to wounded veterans.

Supporters scored a key victory when the Senate passed a repeal of the ban last month as part of the annual Department of Veterans Affairs budget bill. But senators on Wednesday began negotiations on a final budget bill with the House, where many conservatives still oppose allowing the VA to provide IVF because it could lead to embryos being destroyed.

Two wounded veterans and their wives, with support from the Wounded Warrior Project, made emotional pleas in front of the Capitol on Wednesday and urged House lawmakers to support lifting the ban on the procedure. Earlier this week, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which represents about 1.7 million veterans, sent a letter to lawmakers asking the same.

“Like I tell everybody, I’d rather stare my enemy in the face and get blown up again and again than look at the depression and how I failed my wife because I cannot give her the one thing she wants,” said Jeffrey Lynch, an Army veteran from North Carolina who was wounded twice during deployments in 2005-2008.

Lynch suffered severe traumatic brain injury and underwent 130 surgeries. He and his wife Christy now have a daughter, after losing a newborn son, and are hoping to have another child.

The military gives troops and their families access to IVF treatment, which seeks to fertilize eggs outside the body and can be effective in helping people with spinal, genital, urinary tract and other types of battlefield injuries have children.

MOVIE PRODUCED, FUNDED AND MADE BY VETERANS GETS SHOWING IN TEXAS — SAN ANGELO STANDARD-TIMES — SAN ANGELO, Texas (Tribune News Service) — “Range 15,” an indie comedy-horror film about a group of veterans seeking to save humanity from a zombie apocalypse, will have a special one-night showing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cinemark Tinseltown, 4425 Sherwood Way.

Second unit director Hollywood Heard, a Central High School and Angelo State University graduate, said the film stars mostly veterans, including numerous disabled veterans and two Medal of Honor recipients.

“It is a movie produced by vets, starring vets, funded by vets and others, like firemen, police officers and other first responders,” said Heard, an Air Force veteran himself.

The film was crowdfunded, made on a $1 million budget, and has guest appearances by William Shatner, Danny Trejo, Sean Astin, Keith David and MMA champion Randy Couture.

“It is not family entertainment and it is not politically correct,” Heard said. “It’s made with the type of humor those in harm’s way use to survive the horrors of their responsibilities.”